Car-door.



I. F. COIVIEE.

CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.28. I9I3.

1,230,5671 Patented 11m@ 19, 1917.

nooo

L.- A L ll/IWI l'IlIlllillIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL 'll/Illl/IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII1willIII/IIIIlllnlllllllllIl/IIIII[IILlIlllll,IlIllllllllllllllllllllllllllIn 'femm "1", f zaza, n l *v lUNITED sTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH F. COMEE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB. TO CAMEL COMPANY, OFCHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION.

i can-Doon.

Application led November 28, 1913. Serial No. 803,569.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOSEPH F. COMEE, a. citizen of the United States,and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new.

and useful Improvements in Car-Doors, of which I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention has for its object to provide an improvedconstruction of metal door more particularly designed for railwayfreight cars, and the invention consists in the features of improvementhereinafter described, illustrated. in the accompanying drawing andparticularly pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a metal door embodying myinvention. Fig. 2 is a. View in vertical cross section on a larger scaleon a line inside the reinforcing bar at the rear edge of the door, thebrace bars being omitted. Fig. 3 is a view in cross section on line 3 3of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a view in cross section through the front edge ofthe door, showing a modified construction. Fig. 5 is a view similartoFig. 1, but showing a further modification. Fig. 6 is an enlarged detailfront view of the central portion of the door, a part of the centerplate being broken away.

In the manufacture of metal doors for freight cars, it is extremelyimportant that the door shall be very strong, to resist not only theoutward thrusts from the contents of the car, but also the rackingstrains to which such doors in service are subjected; it is necessary,also, that the doors should be maintained as light as possible in orderto insure their ease of operation and economy of cost. So, also, in theconstruction of metal doors for freight cars, it is desirable to providethe front and rear edges of the door with means whereby the exclu,- sionof water, dust, cinders, and the like, shall be effected. My presentconstruction of metal car door is designed to meet the several abovementioned requirements.

The body of the dooris formed of plate metal and preferably of two metalplates 8 and 9 that have their inner vertical edges overlapping andsuitably united by rivets or spot welding. Preferably, one of the plates8 is offset as at 8a to receive the lapping edge of the plate 5), as bythis construction a fiat and uniform outer surface is given to theplates. Across the. top of the door extends a reinforcing top bar 10that is'formed with an outwardly projecting rib 11. rlhis rib 11 extendsapproximately from end' to end of thebar 10 but preferably the rib 11termi p nates adjacent the ends of the bar 10 so that Specioation ofLetters Patent. Patented J une 19, 1917. l l

various strains to which the door will. be l subjected. y

Across the bottom of the door extends an angle bar 15 the preferredshape of which is` the angle bar depends at a slighty distance' belowthe main body of the door for engagement with the usual or suitable uidebrackets, one of which brackets 15a is indicated by dotted lines asattached to the door plate or sill 15b on which rests the iiooring 15.It will be observed, by reference more particularly to Fig. 2, that theinner member of the angle bar 15 extends under the outward forward edgeof the iooring 15 so that when the door is in closed position the anglebar interlocks with the front edge of the ooring 15v and thus preventsthe danger of lifting the door. In other words, when the door is inclosed position, the angle bar '15 being locked against outward movementby the bracket or brackets 15a and against upward movement by theoverlapping front edge of the flooring 15, all danger of the door vbeingforced upward or drawn outward by the pressure from within'the car or bythe suction of rapidly passing trains is avoided. This is a feature ofimportance, as a frequent source of accidents is due to' theside-swiping of passing trains when the doors of freight cars are drawnoutward from their bottoms. Moreover, it will be seen that inasmuch asthe horizontal member of the angle bar 15 extends under the front edgeof thev oor 15, while the lower vertical member of the angle bar extendsadjacent the door sill 15b, the angle bar serves to prevent the passageof dust, cinflers. snow, and the like, into the car.

Along the front edge of the door and extending from top to bottomthereof is attached, by rivets or spot welding, a front reinforcing bar20. Preferably, this bar 20 is formed as a channel bar that opensrearwardly to form aV channel 24 into which snow, rain, or the like,will pass and from which it will drain away at the bottom of the door,the channel 24 being open at the bottom. As shown, the inner member 21of the channel bar 20 that is attached to the body of the door is widerthan the outer member 23 that is connected by the member 22 to the innermember 21. This channel bar 2O is adapted to pass beneath the outerHange of a vertical stop plate 25 shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3, whenthe door is in closed position, the stop plate coperating with thechannel bar in effecting a water-tight joint at the front edge of thedoor.

In the modified form of the invention illustrated in Fig. 4 of thedrawings, the front edge of the plate 8 of the door is flangedoutwardly, as at 8b and to this .outwardly turned flange Sbis attachedone member of the channel bar 20, the inner member of the channel barbeing attached, as by rivets or spot welding, to theA plate 8 of thedoor. In the modified form of the invention shown in Fig. 5 of thedrawings, a reinforcing bar 28 is shown as attached to the front edge ofthe door, this reinforcing bar 28 being formed with a rib 29 and with anoutwardly turned flange 30, to which outwardly turned flange 30 isattached by rivets or spot welding an angle bar 31. By this means achannel 24 is formed at the front edge of the door to perform thefunction of the channel bar hereinbefore described.

From top to bottom of the rear edge of the door extends the rearreinforcing bar 30 that is attached by rivets or spot welding atsuitable points. This rear reinforcing bar 30 is made with a rib 31forming a channel that is open at the bottom but is closed adjacent itstop as the rib terminates below the upper end of the reinforcing bar 30.On the rear edge of the door and from top to bottom thereof extends achannel bar 34. Preferably, this channel bar is formed se arate from themetal plate 9 that comprises the rear portion of the door and separatealso from the reinforcing bar 30, and is attached by rivets or spotwelding to the outer face of the reinforcing bar 30, as clearly shown inFig. 3 of the drawings. The inner member 35 of the channel bar 34inclines inwardly and at a distance from the inner face of the platemetal body of the door and this inner member 35 is adapted to coperatewith a channel bar 38, shown by dotted lines as attached to the reardoor post 39, in tightly closing the rear edge'of the door againstaccess of ram, snow, cmders, or the like. Both the reinforcing bar 30and the channel bar 34 at the rear edge of the door serve to givestrength thereto.

Extending diagonally across the outer face of the door from the topcorners to the bottom corners thereof are the brace bars 40, 41, 42 and43. Each of these brace bars is formed with a longitudinal rib 44. Theribs 44 of the bars 40 and 41 terminate adjacent the upper ends of thesebars so that the channels formed by these ribs 40 are closed at theirouter ends. The brace bars 40, 41, 42 and 43 are mitered at their innerabutting ends, as clearly indicated in Fig. 1, and across the abuttingends of these brace bars extends a center plate 46 that is shaped to setover the abutting ends of the ribs 44 of the several brace bars. Theparts 47 of the center plate 46 between the ribs 44 are attached byriveting or spot welding to the fiat surface of the brace bars, asclearly shown in Figs. l and 3. The center plate 46 not only covers theabutting ends of the brace bars but serves to greatly strengthen thedoor at such point.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that my improved door isof very simple and cheap construction, but by severe tests it has beenfound to resist great strains in' all directions. My improvedconstruction of door also affords the most effective means for excludingwater, etc., at the front and rear edges of the door and at the bottomthereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is*

1. A car door having a body formed of plate metal and having ribbed andflanged brace bars extending diagonally between its upper and lowercorners, said brace bars meeting at the center of the door, and a centerplate extending over the outer faces of the meeting portions of thebrace bars, said center plate being provided with raised portions to setover the ribs of the brace bars and with base fianges to set over theflanges of the brace bars, and attaching means connecting said baseflanges of the center plate with the flanges of said brace bars,substantially as described.

2. A car door, comprising a body formed of plate metal, and a U-shapedchannel member extending from top to bottoni of the door and having oneof its side faces riveted thereto at the front edge of said door, saidchannel member being disposed so that its open side lies toward the rearend of said door.

3. A car door, comprising a body formed of plate metal, the front edgeof said body being flanged outwardly, and a U-shaped channel memberextending from to to bottom of the door and having one o its slde facesriveted thereto at the front edge of said door and being disposed sothat its open side lies toward the rear end of said door, said channelmember abutting the flange on the front edge of the car door and beingriveted thereto. y

4. A car door, comprising a body formed of plate metal and having on itsouter face at its rear edge a vertically disposed reinforcing memberformed with a central channel and laterally projecting flanges, and aU-shaped channel bar straddling the rear 15 l face of the door andadapted to coperate 20 with a similar flange on the car body.

JOSEPH F. COMEE.

Witnesses: e

GEO. P. FISHER, J. G. ANDERSON.

